Computers, especially personal computers, have made possible the quick and efficient processing of large amounts of data for large and small businesses, commercial establishments, manufacturing facilities, medical service centers, educational institutions as well as individuals. However, the delivery and distribution of such computer-originated information or reports to interested parties or recipients lags far behind the speed of processing. Generally, the distribution of computer reports has been limited to conventional methods such as the delivery of paper copies of the reports through interoffice mail, personal couriers, overnight delivery services or the United States Postal Service. The reports also have been passed on through oral communication including telephone reports. More recently, computer reports have been delivered through facsimile transmission and through computer system services including a modem. Nonetheless, all of these distribution systems share common problems in the delay of information and report delivery and the labor intensive aspects of the delivery.
In particular, information may be processed by computer in a matter of minutes, but the computer reports must be reviewed by an individual to determine delivery information including the manner of distribution, the identity of the recipient of the report or other recipient, the addresses of report recipients or other recipients, and other pertinent information. Such personal attention to each report is time consuming, thereby increasing the cost of the report as well as delaying its delivery. The high costs and delays in delivering computer reports are a factor in many businesses and institutions such as: stock and bond brokers, who use computers to trade in stocks and bonds as well as prepare reports on such trading for clients; insurance salespersons, who report purchases of insurance or other information to customers; and schools and universities, which compile test scores and other grading information by computer and provide grade reports to students.
A medical service center such as a hospital is a good example demonstrating the problems of delivering computer reports quickly and efficiently. A battery of tests and laboratory procedures are available to the physician to aid in diagnosing illness and injury and in prescribing methods of treatment. Often, such medical tests are performed in the hospital or affiliated laboratories. The results are computer-processed and the reports of such test results have to be distributed to physicians who have offices located off the hospital campus. In addition to test reports, physicians receive factual information relating to patients such as the hospital's face sheets, which contain patient billing and other identifying information. The quicker the test reports and other materials are distributed to the physician, the quicker the physician may reach a diagnosis and begin a course of treatment. Thus, quicker distribution of test reports is related directly to improved patient care. Quick delivery of patient billing information allows for speedier processing of patient accounts.
Delays in the distribution of test reports and other materials are inherent given the off hospital campus location of most physicians' offices. Even within the hospital, the delivery of test reports may be delayed depending upon the information distribution network of the hospital. The practice of many hospital laboratories is to telephone the physician's office and leave a message regarding the availability of the test reports. If the situation is extremely urgent, the test reports may be communicated over the telephone by lab personnel to the physician or the physician's support staff. If urgent, the physician or a courier may stop by the hospital lab and pick up the test reports. In other cases, the test reports may be provided by facsimile transmission or may be mailed to the physician. Patient billing information may be delayed or otherwise separated from the test reports.
In all of these cases, hospital or laboratory personnel are required to correlate the test reports or other materials with a particular patient and with one or more physicians, make and file copies of the test reports and materials, and forward the test reports and materials to the physicians or other recipients. Forwarding such information involves quite a bit of time-consuming administrative work, which cuts into hospital and laboratory efficiency. For example, when the lab forwards the test reports by telephone, lab personnel must have the physician's telephone numbers and track the physician amongst various locations or repeatedly call until the reports are delivered. Faxing test results to the physician requires lab personnel to have the physician's fax number, to have a fax machine or access thereto, and to see that the fax goes through to the correct destination with the test reports. Even when the test reports are only mailed to the physician, the test reports must be enclosed in a properly addressed envelope with the correct amount of postage. The weighted cost of a pulling a short test report, stuffing the envelope, addressing the envelope, and applying postage is approximately $1.18, according to recent information. In a hospital laboratory which processes 500-700 laboratory test reports on a daily basis, processing the test reports by mail is a daily administrative expense of $590-$826. More time consuming methods of processing the test reports significantly increase this daily expense.
Unfortunately, there is little a physician can do under the prior art systems in speeding the delivery of test reports or other patient materials. As noted, the physician or one of the physician's staff may pick up the test reports at the laboratory when the reports or information are available and when the schedule of the physician or the courier permits. However, physicians have to depend on contact from the hospital or lab indicating the information or test reports are ready for pick up. The alternative is to repeatedly contact hospital or lab personnel in person or by telephone with inquiries as to the status of the information.
There are prior art systems which provide for the delivery of test reports from the laboratory to the physician through the use of networked computers and peripheral devices. One prior art system known as the PRACTI-COM system (manufacturer unknown) operates by downloading test reports from a laboratory's computer system directly via modem to a physician's computer system. There are significant drawbacks to these types of prior art distribution systems. First, these prior art systems require that both the laboratory and the physician's office are equipped with computers. This can be a significant expense for the lab and for the physician. Second, these systems require communication capability between the laboratory's computer system and the physician's computer system. The establishment of such communication capability also can be a significant expense, and the existence of so many different computer communications networks and protocols complicates matters. Third, these prior art distribution systems generally require the participation of a trained computer operator within the physician's offices.
In order to retrieve test reports from the laboratory's computer using the prior art distribution system, the physician's computer operator attempts to make a connection between the lab's computer and the physician's computer via a modem. If the operator is unsuccessful in connecting to the laboratory's computer, the operator has to hang up or disconnect the modem, and attempt to make the connection later. Obviously, repeated attempts at connection to the lab's computer delay transmission of test reports. If the connection attempt is successful, the operator must access the test results file designated for the physician and check if the test reports are available. If ready, the test reports are downloaded to the physician's computer. The operator must then print the test reports and provide them to the physician.
The necessity of an operator in the physician's office is a significant drawback to these types of prior art systems. Ordinarily, physician's offices are staffed only during office hours. Thus, lab reports can only be accessed during these limited times when an operator is present, thereby delaying the delivery of the test reports to the physician. In addition, the necessity of employing an operator with computer skills may be cost prohibitive, with the result that the physician's medical staff has to be diverted from medical duties to retrieve test reports.
Although a hospital/physician scenario has been used to describe the problems of delivering computer reports quickly and efficiently, these problems are not confined to medical service centers. Other businesses, institutions, and manufacturing facilities that are sources of computer report generation face the same sort of problems in the distribution of such information.
Accordingly, there is a need for an information distribution system which provides recipients or other recipients with computer reports as quickly and cost effectively as possible. In particular, there is a need for an information distribution system that provides a physician with laboratory test results and other patient information as quickly as possible in order to improve patient care, and that minimizes the time, number of personnel, and amount of equipment necessary to the distribution of such information.